Stem cell trial to fix damaged hearts begins

A new clinical trial that hopes to find out whether stem cells can repair tissue that has been damaged by a heart attack has begun in London. It is the largest trial ever that looks at the effects of stem cells on heart attack patients, involving 3,000 patients from across 11 countries in Europe.

The trial will see each of the patients receive the standardised treatment for the widening of the arteries. However, half of the patients will also have stem cells injected into their hearts that have been extracted from their bone marrow. The goal of the treatment is to see whether death rates and heart damage could be reduced by this type of treatment.

Treatment will be provided to patients in the days following a heart attack, in an attempt to strengthen the heart and avoid a further attack. While many people that suffer a cardiovascular event may not experience another and could live for years afterwards, their heart will be weakened and left with permanent damage that puts them at risk.

The study builds on previous research that tested the effect of stem cell treatment on the heart following an attack. One of these, by the Cochrane Collaboration in 2012, said that this type of treatment could offer a small improvement. However, the majority of previous trials have included small numbers of patients.

It is hoped that this new study, as it covers such a large number of patients across several countries, will provide a more definitive answer to whether stem cells could be a beneficial course of treatment. 

Professor Anthony Mathur, director of cardiology at Barts Health NHS Trust and the lead investigator on the trial, told the BBC: "This is the definitive trial. After 15 years of research we will now have a clear answer. We hope to show that stem-cell injections can cut the number of people dying from heart attacks by 25%.

"If it works, it would open up a whole new branch of medicine, and give heart attack patients an entirely new treatment."